45 Sanctions Hit Prince Group as Crypto-Scam Network Faces a $14B Freeze

The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned four individuals and 41 entities linked to Prince Group, the Cambodian conglomerate accused of operating scam compounds that use trafficked workers to defraud victims through crypto investment and romance scams. OFAC’s Thursday action targets offshore companies, nominee owners and administrators accused of helping Prince Group executives conceal assets and evade earlier sanctions imposed in October 2025 and June 2026.

“Cyber scam syndicates continue to steal billions of dollars from American victims while relying on sophisticated international business networks to launder their illicit proceeds,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.

Among those designated is Qiu Yong, whom Treasury said controls a network of British Virgin Islands and Hong Kong companies on behalf of Prince Group, including money lenders and wine businesses, and who has worked for a company controlled by Prince Group chairman Chen Zhi. His personal assistant, Zhao Mengyao, was also designated. OFAC targeted two people said to be holding property for, or running companies with, Prince Group executive Chen Bo, who was sanctioned in June: his wife, He Yujing, to whom Chen Bo transferred ownership of his Tokyo mansion after the October 2025 sanctions, and associate Visal Pang, who controls 11 Cambodian companies spanning construction, logistics, a hotel and a “super app.”

Eleven companies still controlled by Chen Bo were also sanctioned, including Prince International Airlines and CB General Insurance. Entities in Singapore, Mauritius and Malaysia were sanctioned for links to Prince Group associate Dai An, along with a Singapore media company owned by alleged Prince Group finance chief Thet Li. OFAC separately designated Chui Kok Wa, a Malaysian national based in Madagascar, who Treasury said led a network of scammers that used crypto and other technologies to defraud Americans of more than $400,000.

The U.S. is seeking the forfeiture of about $14 billion in Bitcoin Bitcoin tied to Prince Group, while UK authorities have frozen Thet Li’s London penthouse, Decrypt reported last month. Prince Group has denied the allegations. Chen Zhi was arrested in Cambodia in January with two other Chinese nationals and extradited to China, where state media described him as the head of a major cross-border gambling and fraud syndicate, the BBC reported. Cambodia had revoked his citizenship the month before and placed Prince Bank into liquidation.

Freezes and seizures of cryptocurrency by the Scam Center Strike Force targeting Southeast Asian crime networks have topped $580 million, according to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. In Thursday’s announcement, Jeanine Pirro stated that the force had made “significant progress” in freezing, seizing and forfeiting crypto.